It looked like it was a tough thing, keeping his emotions in check. Ridgeview head coach Rodney Kellar tried to keep a professional and stoic expression on his face during the postgame interview Friday night.

But it had to be so darn tough to keep it all in after watching his Mustangs knock off top-seed Fieldcrest 51-44 in the semifinal round of the McLean County Tournament at the Shirk Center.

“There was no fear here,” Kellar said. “We prepared as hard as anybody; we put as much time in as anybody; we’ve got good players. You put those things together and there is no fear.”

Kellar fought to keep back the smiles and maintain his composure, but it was easy to see that he was fighting to keep the excitement in. It was also obvious he was proud of his charges, who outrebounded the Knights 27-12 and only had 10 turnovers.

“They wanted it more and they got,” FHS head coach Matt Winkler said. “Ridgeview made us play a bad ballgame tonight. All the credit goes to them.”

Fieldcrest’s nightmare performance started midway through the opening stanza when Ridgeview scored six straight points to take a 10-4 lead. The Mustangs did not trail the rest of the night.

The Knights were able to cut the margin to 10-8 with two baskets in a 90-second span at the quarter turn. But the problems hit FHS soon after Drew Barth scored with 7:28 left in the half.

Ridgeview scored the last 10 points of the half. Including a pair of 3-pointers from Trevor McIntosh. The second triple came after Fieldcrest all-stater Brady Sanders forced a difficult shot the Mustangs came away with the carom.

“I thought we executed the first half pretty well,” Kellar said, still fighting to keep the smile in.

Kellar has been in the coaching business for some time, as was his father before him. He was able to take what he learned from a loss to the Knights last Friday and turn it into a victory on this night.

“I thought familiarity worked to our benefit,” Kellar said. “We were able to do some things differently the second time around based on the way they switched screens.”

The different approach worked as the Mustangs kept their composure and patience while limiting Fieldcrest’s opportunities.

“They did a nice job of changing up some things and controlling the tempo, especially in the first half,” Winkler said. “When you shoot bad it really magnifies itself.”

Page 2 of 3 - Ridgeview led 20-8 at the intermission because of the execution of the game plan.

“The big thing with them is you’ve got to play screen and roll and you have to stay in between Brady Sanders and the basket because he creates so much for his team,” Kellar said. “I thought Trey McCormick and Trevor McIntosh did an awesome job taking care of the ball.”

Keeping Fieldcrest in check for one half was a major accomplishment. Holding the Knights for four quarters was something short of amazing.

Not only is there the pressure of dealing with the firepower of FHS, there is maintaining enough composure on offense to keep the ball out of the Knights’ hands down the stretch.

Fieldcrest scored the first four points of the second half but the Mustangs answered with five just 2:10 into the third quarter.

A big play for the Knights came when Barth missed the second of two free throws and Kyle Crowley came away with the offensive rebound and passed the ball to Jackson Puetz. A sophomore who comes off the bench, Puetz buried a 3-pointer to cut the FHS deficit to 27-21 with 2:31 left in the quarter.

It stayed that way by the time the period ended.

“Puetz played outstanding,” Winkler said. “He really kept us in the ballgame.”

The Knights had cut Ridgeview’s advantage in half in one quarter. They were looking to wash out the rest in the final frame, but had trouble with the Mustangs at both ends of the floor.

“We never did get them out of their comfort level,” Winkler said. “We didn’t make them turn it over enough.”

Nick Panzica hit a 3-pointer from the left side with 2:14 to go to cut the RHS lead to 40-36. Sanders connected for 3 with 1:49 left to make it a 42-39 game.

It appeared the pressure was starting to build on the Ridgeview side. The Mustangs were just 2 of 4 from the free throw line in the period before Kellar got a timeout with 1:38 on the clock.

Ridgeview corrected the situation by making nine straight to close out the win.

“We had chances to crumble there and the kids really bounced back and got some big defensive stops,” Kellar said. “We made some free throws down the stretch when we were kind of shaky there for a while.”

Page 3 of 3 - Balance on offense was a key factor for the Mustangs (16-6). McCormick led four players in double figures with 13 points. Brock Heimer added 12 while McIntosh and Josh Weier chipped in 11 points apiece. Weier also had 9 rebounds. McCormick contributed 4 assists and 4 boards.

Sanders tallied 18 points and Puetz threw in 16 for the Knights (16-4). Sanders and Barth had 4 boards apiece.

Ridgeview will take on second-seeded Tri-Valley for the championship tonight. The Vikings overwhelmed Blue Ridge 69-34 in the second semifinal game.